


The Dragon of Wood

by rosieblue



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: fifth dragon type of thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 23:29:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12376356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosieblue/pseuds/rosieblue
Summary: After Jermaine discovers his green-thumb, the Xiaolin temple comes to recruit him a second time.





	The Dragon of Wood

 

 

The first time Jermaine met Omi was the day he realized there is some sense in fairytales.  
  
  
 He watched the little, well littler, guy being quite literally mistaken for a ball for a while in morbid fascination, before he intervened.

Jermaine would be lying if he said he hadn't pictured himself as one of the knights from all those fairytales, brave and true and always defending the weak.

That's why one could imagine his shock when the littler boy, the one he was defending, defended him almost immediately after.  
  
Realizing suddenly that the story so far had two knights and zero damsels, Jermaine felt the need to introduce himself.  
  
"I'm Jermaine."  
  
The other boy grinned, not caring about the butterflies that smile was unleashing in Jermaine's stomach.  
  
 "Omi."  
  
  
  
  
After Omi had told him his identity and what he actually does, Jermaine didn't have the heart to tell him he already knew.  
  
He'd had a hunch after seeing the robes, which looked vividly like the ones his grandmother often described and had, but after Omi started sprouting weird instances about magic and frequently thwarting the end of the world, he was positive.  
  
  
"This is New York", Jermaine finally said. "Strange here is the new normal."

 

* * *

  
  
  
Long after the showdown and the Xiaolin team's leaving, Jermaine still felt guilty about not telling Omi who he really was.  
  
  
Technically, though, he didn't lie.  
  
He'd told him his name was Jermaine Lee and that he was eleven years old.  
  
What he didn't say was that his grandmother was Janine Lee, a former Metal Dragon.  
  
  
He hadn't told him that he and his sister, also named Janine, were put to bed with stories about his grandmother's long-gone adventures at the Xiaolin temple.  
  
He hadn't told him that they often tried on his grandmother's old robes, with Janine always taking the bottoms and him taking the top.  
  
Jermaine bit his lip, going deeper in thought.  
  
He also hadn't told Omi that he and his sister ran around, with their grandmother's robes, pretending to be superheroes until they knew they easily could be.  
  
  
  
The life of a grandchild of a former Metal Dragon wasn't that glamorous, at least it wasn't to Jermaine.  
  
He was the son of a business advisor and a café owner, Anthony and Maxine Lee, respectively.  
  
He went to school and got good grades and played basketball in his free time.  
  
Having metal-inclined abilities wasn't that special, even if inherited from one of the world's greatest heroes according to his father.  
  
Being extra good with fixing electronic devices was cool and useful, Jermaine had to admit.  
  
Always knowing which buildings were about to collapse? The construction men hadn't appreciated that at all.  
  
  
All in all, Jermaine judged, Janine got the best of Grandma's powers.  
  
Janine was taller than he was and older, too, and had the ability to bend any metal to her will.  
  
  
  
"You should be making something useful with that", Jermaine told her one day. "Instead of just making jewelry."  
  
Janine scoffed. "Making jewelry _is_ useful; one day I'll have my own boutique and you know it."  
  
"Whatever, sis", Jermaine said, rolling his eyes.  
  
Janine looked like she wanted to say something, anxiously biting her lower lip.   
  
"You're absolutely sure those kids you saw were the new Dragons?"  
  
"Positive", Jermaine said. "Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water."  
  
She frowned. "No Metal?"  
  
"No Metal", Jermaine confirmed.  
  
Neither said it, but both knew they had the same thought: both siblings were two halves of a whole Dragon.  
  
"Grandma said some of the Dragons were legacies", Janine said after a while. "You never know."  
  
Nodding, Jermaine repeated absent-mindedly. 

"You never know."

 

* * *

 

  
  
Even after a few months had passed, Jermaine somehow still found ways to bring up the Xiaolin temple.  
  
His parents, especially his father, fostered his interest at first, right up to the point when it got annoying.  
  
  
"And they fight things like evil mimes and ninjas", Jermaine said, one night at dinner. "And ~~\--~~ "  
  
"Purple ghost witches", Janine finished, with a pointed look. "Yes, we know, Jay, you keep telling us. It's annoying."

Ignoring the look their mother was giving her, Janine added.  
  
"What? It _is_!"   
  
"Doesn't mean you have to cut your brother down like that", Anthony said, sternly. "And Jermaine, why don't you tell Aunt Regina about it? She's on the fire escape."  
  
Sighing, Jermaine got up and took his empty plate.  
  
He knew his parents were getting annoyed with him repeating the same old stories, even he was getting fed up with not having new material, but he couldn't stop.  
  
  
  
After putting his empty plate in the sink, Jermaine went to the fire escape, where Aunt Regina still was.  
  
Regina was his favorite aunt, something both he and his sister agreed on and would never tell their Aunt Vivian.  
  
She was fun and outgoing and always brought presents from the places her job took her ~~\--~~ latest present being a small wooden sword from Rome, which he admitedly spent a quite generous amount of time saying it looked exactly like the magical sword that Brazilian kid had.  
  
Somehow the sword was magically lost after the third time he mentioned it.  
  
  
"Hey, Aunt Reggie", Jermaine began, dragging a stool to sit on. "What's up?"  
  
Aunt Regina smiled and put her phone back in pocket. "Nothing, baby, your Auntie Sharon isn't picking up."  
  
"Oh yeah", Jermaine said, smiling at the mention of his aunt's fiancée. "Did she get the cat vaccinated?"  
  
Aunt Regina shrugged. "That's what I was gonna ask her about."  
  
She shook her head, as if shaking the thought out. "Was there something on your mind?"  
  
"Yeah, actually", Jermaine said, remembering why he sought her out in the first place. "I was wondering, does the Xiaolin temple know about us?"  
  
That wasn't the question he wanted to ask, really, but it was the first thing that popped into his mind.  
  
His grandmother remembered the temple fondly and her children showed nothing but respect and admiration for her adventures, yet none of them had seen any temple representative in years.  
  
"What brought this on?", his aunt asked, curiously.  
  
Jermaine shrugged. "I met the new Dragons the other day."  
  
"You did?"  
  
"Yeah, weird bunch...cool but weird."  
  
Aunt Regina's mouth twitched to a smile.  
  
"Seems about right", she said, staring far-off as if remembering something. "But to answer your question, we stopped having contact with the temple when I turned sixteen."  
  
That was a _long_ time ago, Jermaine thought but wisely didn't say out loud.  
  
"Why?", he asked, face scrunched in confusion. "Something happen?"  
  
She shook her head, looking insulted at the suggestion.  
  
"Of course not", she said. "Time just went on and new apprentices joined the temple and everyone who knew your grandma got too busy or too dead."  
  
Jermaine didn't know what to say to that, but his aunt continued.  
  
"All that's left of your Grandma Janine's time is a former Fire Dragon in Cambodia and a 1500 year-old dragon."  
  
"I think I met that dragon", Jermaine said. "Dojo, he seems cool."  
  
His aunt gave him a look, as if she knew that he had way more to say.  
  
"Any of the Dragons seem particularly interesting?", she asked.  
  
Jermaine tried to fight the burning feeling on his cheeks. "Yeah, yeah. There was this Water Dragon ~~\--~~ short, wardrobe could use some work, but he was nice."  
  
He tried to play it cool, making his tone too casual and trying to appear like he didn't care that much, but Aunt Regina saw right through him.  
  
"And cute?", she added cheekily. "Come on, you can tell me."  
  
Jermaine sighed and pretended to find the stairs interesting before he caved.  
  
"Okay", he said giving up. "So maybe he was a _little_ cute."  
  
"A little?"  
  
"I'm not saying more than that."

 

* * *

 

  
  
To say that the tension in the room could have been cut by a knife wouldn't have done the scenario any justice.  
  
  
Jermaine fidgeted in his seat and tried to not make it too obvious that he was staring.  
  
On their couch, pretentiously sipping a cup of tea was a legendary ancient warrior.  
  
"The cookies are lovely, Madame Lee", the warrior said after a while of silence.

Maxine nodded, a little absent-mindedly, as she tried to process what was happening in her living room.  
  
"I'm glad you like them", she said, voice a little breathy, as if she was talking in a dream.  
  
Luckily, Anthony was faring much better.  
  
"You said your name was Chase Young?", he asked, leaning backwards in his seat.  
  
The warrior noddes. "It is and I'm here because your son has true potential."  
  
Maxine and Anthony shared a look, having one of those silent conversations that their children sometimes dreaded.  
  
Jermaine held his breath as his mother took the initiative. "Potential?"  
  
"He's very magically-inclined", Chase said, finally setting down the teacup. "With a little training, he will become a formidable warrior."  
  
Anthony gave Chase a once-over that only served to let Jermaine know he wasn't buying any of that.  
  
"And where will he train?", he asked warily. "I know the temple has had tutors in the past but Jermaine can't just leave school and go to China."  
  
Chase didn't even pause to consider his answer.  
  
 "He trains anywhere he and you, of course, like. I have means to arrive at New York City anytime you would like."   
  
Seeing that the parents still weren't sold on the entire thing, he added.  
  
"Your son is talented and I'm sure that he will be as advanced as the Xiaolin Dragons themselves in no time."  
  
Noticing her son figeting in his seat, Maxine smiled pleasantly.  
  
"Would you excuse us for a minute?"  
  
Chase nodded and leaned back on the couch as the family retreated to the kitchen.  
  
  
  
In the kitchen, Maxine was the first to speak.  
  
"There's something very off about that man", she said in a stern voice. "I do _not_ feel comfortable."  
  
Anthony sighed. "I know, I'm getting the same feeling, but maybe that's just the magic."  
  
Before his wife could protest, Anthony raised a hand defensively.  
  
"I _know_ that sounds like a crappy reason", he said. "But I haven't been exposed to magic in a long time and you never have, period."  
  
Maxine shrugged. "So? That man doesn't look like he should be trusted around children."  
  
As his parents continued their hushed argument, Jermaine could onlyhink about what Chase Young said.  
  
He had potential. He would be a warrior. He would be as strong and powerful as the Dragons.  
  
The choice was blindingly obvious to Jermaine.  
  
"I want to train with him", he said, breaking into the argument. "I want to be his student."  
  
Maxine looked at him, more worried than anything else. "Are you sure about that, baby?"  
  
"I am", Jermaine said with a nod.  
  
Anthony sighed and crossed his arms. "Your grandma always said that Xiaolin training was one of the hardest things she ever had to endure."  
  
"I know that", he agreed. "And I'm her grandson, there's nothing I can't do."  
  
His parents shared a look, and if his eyes weren't fooling him, Jermaine could tell his mother's mouth was twitching into a smile.  
  
"Let's go tell your new teacher the news then", Maxine said.  
  
"Cool, can he stay for dinner?"  
  
"...Baby, you know I can change my mind, right?"

 

* * *

 

  
  
Training with Chase Young was a whole new experience.  
  
  
It wasn't like anything Jermaine had ever experienced and he wasn't sure why he thought it would be.  
  
"Omi never mentioned training was this hard", he muttered as he switched to another form.  
  
Chase heard him. "The Water Dragon has lived in the temple his whole life, it's all he's known. Switch."  
  
That must have been one hell of a life, Jermaine thought, switching into yet another fighting form.  
  
  
  
As he went through the forms and the exercises with a clear mind, Jermaine's thoughts almost always went back to the temple.  
  
What was what exactly that they did when they weren't fighting insufferable geniuses and ghost witches?  
  
He knew they trained, physically, spiritually, _and_ magically, but he didn't know what that entailed or if what was anything like how he was training.  
  
He was about to ask Chase about it when the ancient warrior suddenly excused himself.  
  
"I have to go", he said, looking slightly apprehensive. "I seem to have forgotten a critical thing in my cave."

Jermaine raised an eyebrow. "What kinda thing?"  
  
"Lunch, today I'm having soup", Chase answered, with a tone that suggested he was being witty for reasons his student didn't know. "Practice those forms for tomorrow."  
  
  
  
  
Janine had a hard time believing his story.  
  
"And then he just vanished?", she was saying, eyes wide. "Just like that?"  
  
Jermaine nodded. "He said something about lunch and I bent down to tie my shoelaces and when I looked up...poof! Nothing there."  
  
"I _suppose_ it makes sense", Janine said, huffing. "Isn't he a wizard of some kind?"  
  
"He's an ancient warrior", Jermaine corrected. "He does know some magic, but it's not what he really does."  
  
Janine shrugged and went back to her homework, leaving Jermaine to his thoughts.  
  
Ever since he became Chase Young's student, he'd been wracked with guilt.  
  
He didn't know where it came from, if he were being honest, but somehow everytime he looked at his sister, it would rush back in spades.  
  
It wasn't like Janine had any interest in being a Xiaolin warrior.  
  
All she wanted was to ace that biology test she had coming up and to save up enough of her allowance to buy a book she's been obsessing over for weeks.  
  
But it still manifested in Jermaine's brain until it snowballed into a nightmare of what would happen had she actually felt jealous and sibling rivalry reared its ugly head.  
  
"Hey, sis?"  
  
"Yes, Jermaine?"  
  
He took a deep breath. "Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm pretty sure I am", she said, turning to face him with a skeptical gaze. "Does it look like I'm not?"  
  
"It's not that", Jermaine said.  
  
She raised an eyebrow. "Then what is it?"  
  
"Are you alright with me training with Chase Young?"  
  
The way she looked at him, incredulous and caught off-guard, meant that Jermaine probably didn't string the question correctly.  
  
He tried again. "I mean, are you ~~\--~~ "  
  
"Why wouldn't I be okay?", Janine asked, cutting him off. "My little brother is making his weird dreams come true."  
  
"It's just that you and I are alike", he began, guiltily. "And I don't know if you maybe wanted to train with him too."  
  
The laughter was the last thing Jermaine expected to hear.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
Janine tried to control her giggles. "Is that really what was eating you these past few weeks?"  
  
"Yeah", he said, giving her a look. "I don't want you to resent me."  
  
"I would never resent you, Jay, you know that", she said, smiling reassuringly. "This is obviously important to you, but I'm not really interested in all that crap."  
  
"You're not?"  
  
"I would love a good self-defense class, but I wouldn't want to spend all my free time training."  
  
She paused. "But if my brother wants to spend his free time hanging with a creepy old guy, it's his business."  
  
"Janine!"  
  
"I'm trying to support you, Jay, but dude's creepy as _shit_!"

 

* * *

 

  
  
"You _cannot_ be serious."  
  
  
That was all Jermaine could say as Chase Young offered him the blue sash.  
  
"I don't happen to see this as a laughing matter", Chase said with a straight face.  
  
Jermaine fumbled a little. "It's just, I ~~\--~~ isn't it too early for me to be a Wudai warrior, Master Chase?"  
  
"It isn't", Chase answered. "I am your Master and you are a gifted student, this is perfectly natural."  
  
He took another look at the sash in his hands before adding.  
  
"And children and grandchildren of former Dragons tend to fly through the ranks quite quickly."  
  
Jermaine bowed. "I would be honored, Master Chase."  
  
Chase handed him the blue sash and watched him as he replaced the old one with the new.  
  
"You know, I've been meaning to ask you something", Jermaine said, securing the sash around his waist.  
  
Chase seemed intrigued. "Which is?"  
  
"Was Grandma really a great warrior?"  
  
"Janine Lee was one of the greatest warriors that temple has ever seen."  
  
"And did you know her?", Jermaine added quickly, hoping to confirm anything.  
  
Chase look both alarmed and vaguely interested. "Your tone suggests you already know something about that."

Biting his lip, Jermaine nodded.  
  
"I asked her about you a couple of days ago, but you know how it gets with old folks ~~\--~~ some of her memories are gone, but she said you are magnificent in battle."  
  
"She is correct", Chase said, not one hint of arrogance in his voice. "As was she."  
  
Sensing the curiousity radiating off his student, Chase let another detail slip.  
  
"She was the only one able to defeat me in combat until that new warrior."  
  
"Cool", Jermaine said, chest puffed with pride. "Wait, until now? Someone new defeated you?"  
  
Chase didn't answer that.  
  
"We begin a new phase of training tomorrow. I suggest you get sufficient rest."

 

* * *

 

 

 

  
"How did you become a Wudai warrior so quickly?"  
  
Jermaine tried to keep his nerves in check as Omi crossed his arms, waiting impatiently for the answer.  
  
  
  
He truly didn't think his arrival would have been met with that much ambivalence.  
  
When Chase told him he was to go the Xiaolin temple to join the others in getting wu he deemed important, Jermaine had jumped at the chance to see his old friend again.  
  
"It is true that I don't think that Shen Gong Wu are very useful in the long run", he said, after he explained the mission. "But the ones thay will reveal themselves _will_ be important."   
  
Jermaine nodded, though he still had a horde of questions. "I'll do my best, but..."  
  
"But?", Chase raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I just don't get it", he finally confessed. "If you are affiliated with the Xiaolin, can't you just ask them for the wu?"  
  
Chase sighed and closed his eyes, in thought.  
  
"I didn't want to say this just yet, but this will be a test."  
  
"A test?", Jermaine asked, blindsided. "What kind of test are we talking about?"  
  
"The kind that will determine whether or not you are ready to become my apprentice", Chase answered.  
  
The shock the statement held was clearly apparent on Jermaine's face, so Chase added.  
  
"You have been my student for these past few weeks; now it's time to see if you can be my _full_ apprentice. There's a big difference."  
  
The shock diminished after the explanation.  
  
"I won't let you down, Master Chase", Jermaine said, a firm determination now set to hide another hidden thought that managed to resurface.  
  
Chase didn't lift his eyes off him. "You still seem troubled, young one."  
  
"Yeah, yeah", he said, suddenly feeling like anything he asked would cross a line. "I kinda had this question for a long time ~~\--~~ I don't mean to be rude, but why did you leave the Xiaolin temple?"  
  
Chase nodded, expression unchanged.  
  
 "I knew you would ask about that one day, but I'm sorry this is not a story I like to tell."  
  
He paused.

"All you need to know is that we have wildly different methods of teaching."  
  
The way Chase had answered his question, ice-cold and emotionless, made Jermaine regret ever asking it.  
  
  
  
The journey to the temple, all the way from New York to China, took all of ten minutes.  
  
"Teleportation", Chase said when he and his student appeared in his cave. "Is the quickest method of travel."  
  
Jermaine crouched and struggled to keep from throwing up. "And the most disgusting ~~\--~~ I think I'm going to throw up."  
  
"That tends to happen in the first time", Chase said, waving him off. "Now, let's focus on your mission. You will take this road to leave the Land of Nowhere..."

  
  
Reaching the temple had been relatively easy, but what wasn't, was meeting the monks for the second time.  
  
They seemed like an okay bunch, even if Jermaine thought they managed to get weirder somehow.  
  
  
"And that's Master Haung", Kimiko said, pointing at the elderly monk she mentioned. "Cool old man but almost everyone's certain he's going senile."  
  
Jermaine followed the tour, with a fading interest.  
  
It had been interesting at first when they passed through the vault and the monks' room and the soot-filled room where the Sapphire Dragon always remained.  
  
"I'm sorry", he'd said when Kimiko had told him that last bit. "Did you say you have a soot-filled room for _one_ Shen Gong Wu?"

Clay had readjusted his hat then. "That's a very long, unfortunate incident, partner."  
  
Jermaine decided not to ask.  
  
  
As the tour drew a close, Omi materialized out of nowhere.  
  
"I need to talk to you", he said in a very displeased tone. "Alone."  
  
He said that last bit with a glare directed at his teammates.  
  
"Come on, everyone", Raimundo said, teasingly. "Let's give Omi and his _boyfriend_ some privacy."  
  
Omi's voice was completely deadpan.  
  
"Yes, he is a boy and he's my friend, I don't see the need for sarcasm."  
  
Jermaine tried to fight the blush forming on his cheeks as the others made their exit.  
  
"He's not even making it fun anymore", he heard Raimundo grumble as the Dragons walked away.  
  
The minute they were out of earshot, Omi turned to him.  
  
"First of all, you're _not_ my boyfriend", Omi said, voice a mix of exasperation and embarrassment.  
  
The sudden change got Jermaine by surprise.  
  
"Is this Jekyll or Hyde?", he finally said when he found his voice. "Besides, I would never ask you out anyway."  
  
That was a lie.  
  
"Plenty of fish in the sea, Jermaine", Omi said. "I don't care!"  
  
The way he said it made Jermaine sure that that was a lie too.  
  
"Dude", Jermaine began, not losing sight of what was important. "Have you been working on your slang?"

  
After much explanation, it turned out that the misused slang was a ruse.  
  
Jermaine tried not to show his surprise as Omi started talking about how he misused _one_ idiom that _one_ time and how nobody let him live it down.  
  
"So I decided to teach them a lesson", Omi explained. "By twisting those sayings further beyond distortion ~~\--~~ they're going to crack soon enough."  
  
"Damn, Omi", Jermaine said, more than a little impressed. "Very disproportionate, but I admire your dedication."  
  
Omi was pleased with himself. "Yes, I know, I'm the best."  
  
"Humble too", Jermaine added dryly. "And no one caught on?"  
  
Omi sighed. "No, but I'm especially disappointed with Kimiko and Raimundo; English isn't their first language too."  
  
He shook his head, as if trying to regain focus.  
  
"You're making me forget why I wanted to talk to you!"  
  
  
  
And that's how Jermaine was stuck in front of no one but Omi, trying to find an answer to to the other boy's question.  
  
Something told him he shouldn't tell the whole truth.  
  
Even if Chase had only given away a hint of why the rift between him and the Xiaolin happened, it still didn't feel like a good idea.  
  
  
"I trained with a Xiaolin affiliate", Jermaine said, technically not lying. "What's your deal?"  
  
Omi groaned. "It just doesn't feel natural! Something is off about you."  
  
"Maybe it's the fact that _I_ grew up", Jermaine said, going on the offensive. "Of course that'll unhinge you, seeing as you _never_ did."  
  
He paused to let the words sink in.  
  
"You're feeling threatened now that someone who's just as good as you came through", he added. "Not a good look, Omi. I thought you were a team player."

 

* * *

 

  
  
After getting home, defeated and dejected, Jermaine didn't know what to say to his parents.  
  
How does anyone begin a conversation like that?  
  
He couldn't just go up to them and say something akin to ' _hey, I was actually evil for a few weeks!_ ' or that Chase Young was the Xiaolin near-equivalent of Judas.  
  
  
Jermaine sighed and flopped on his bed.  
  
His mother was going to freak out, that was for sure, but what would his father do?  
  
He was trying to think of all the possible reactions his father could possibly go through when Janine came into the room.  
  
"There's a Dragon Ball Z rerun on right now", she said. "You coming?"  
  
Jermaine shook his head. "No, I think I might take a nap, I'm tired."  
  
Janine made her way to the edge of his bed and sat down, giving her brother a concerned look.  
  
"You're never too tired for cartoon reruns ~~\--~~ what happened?"  
  
He shrugged. "Nothing, my Xiaolin master is actually the evil prince of darkness."  
  
"O-kay", Janine said, tilting her head. "I could've told you that."  
  
"I'm not joking."  
  
"Neither am I. I told you something was weird about that dude."

Jermaine sat up in his bed now. "Then why didn't you tell me?!"  
  
"I did", she said, annoyed. "Many times and so did Mom, but you didn't listen!"  
  
Jermaine said nothing, choosing to remain silent and wallow in his mistakes instead.  
  
"So you played it all wrong", Janine said, lightly. "Big deal, people do that all the time."  
  
Jermaine looked his sister in the eye.  
  
"He had me compete with one of the Dragons, the one who is my _friend_ ", he began, ignoring the nagging feeling that friends wasn't all what they were. "In a gladiator fight to the very end, whatever that meant, just so he could test him to see if _he_ was apprentice material."  
  
They remained silent for a while.  
  
"Some mistakes are bigger than others", Janine began with an understatement. "But, dude, you didn't know."  
  
He sighed. "Jani ~~\--~~ "  
  
"Seriously, Jay", she said, standing up in her exasperation. "He came here and sat down with Mom and Dad in our living room and had Mom's cookies and pretended to be a Xiaolin master."  
  
She paused to breathe. "There's no way in _hell_ you could've known!"  
  
  
  
  
Jermaine was taking out the trash when he decided to just stay outside for a while.  
  
The street wasn't quite because this was New York and of course it wouldn't be, but it had an air of serenity.  
  
Somehow, in the midst of all that training and regular schoolwork, Jermaine had lost the comforting feeling he got when he sat on the front steps of his building and looked at the sky.  
  
He didn't know if what he was looking at up there were stars or airplanes, but on nights like these it never mattered.  
  
Jermaine spent a total of ten relaxing minutes before his phone buzzed with a text from his sister.  
  
"Mom says get back here immediately", the text read, along with almost a thousand exclamation points.  
  
Sighing and praying his mother wasn't too ticked off when he got back in there, Jermaine got up and dusted his jeans before turning to go into the building.  
  
  
Suddenly the air became a lot colder than it had been and there was only one person who had that effect on the general atmosphere.  
  
  
"If you're here to apologize for using me", Jermaine said, turning back around and feeling a lot braver than he looked. "Then it's too late, _Chase_."  
  
Chase's expression didn't change, even if he seemed a little peeved.  
  
"I'm not here to apologize; it was my every intention to use you from the start."  
  
Jermaine blinked in surprise. "That was harsh but way to be truthful, I guess."  
  
His former Xiaolin master had more to say apparently because he sighed and relaxed his shoulders.  
  
"You may have been part of my plan to test Omi", Chase said. "But if it means anything to you."  
  
He paused so his words would have a greater impact.  
  
"I'm here to say it's been a pleasure having you as my student."  
  
"It was?", Jermaine asked, not knowing how else to respond.  
  
Chase tensed again. "Do not be fooled, you _were_ my pawn, but if you had no potential, I wouldn't have said you did."  
  
Jermaine didn't know how to react to that.  
  
Here he was, standing on a higher step in front of his evil ex-teacher, who was subtly all but telling him he was proud of his progress.  
  
He almost said something, but chose not to.  
  
Chase Young bowed to him, with only a fleeting hint of the smallest smile.  
  
"I wish you the best of luck, Jermaine Lee", he said before teleporting away.

  
A while later, a thirteen year-old Black boy bowed back to an empty space.

 

* * *

 

  
It took Jermaine another year to discover his uncanny green-thumb.

  
He hadn't paid much attention to how good he was with plants, really, because it was more or less a chore.  
  
Anthony, his father, had always loved gardening and plants and had insisted on getting flowerpots in their balcony.  
  
But the problem was, gardening never liked him back.

  
It took the family a while before any of them could break the news to him.  
  
"Anthony, dear", Aunt Vivian was saying in the middle of one her visits. "I don't know how to say this, but you succeeded in having the first zombie garden!"

The world seemed to freeze as Anthony processed his sister-in-law's jibe.  
  
"I worked very hard on those flowerbeds", he said indignantly. "They're just late-bloomers."  
  
Aunt Vivian shook her head, tsk-ing.  
  
"No, honey, _you_ were a late-bloomer. These flowers are just dead."  
  
  
  
And as adults did when they had to be mature, Aunt Vivian and Anthony avoided each other for the next week, but not before Maxine gladly gave all the flower-work to Jermaine.  
  
"But those flowers are the one thing that give Dad joy", Jermaine complained. "Or that's what they'd do if they ever bloomed."  
  
Maxine nodded. "Exactly, and that's why you're taking over until your father realizes that he can just enjoy the flowers without killing them."  
  
Jermaine knew there was no point in arguing with his mother then, especially when she was giving him that 'I wish you'd try' look.  
  
"Fine", he relented. "I guess I'm going to water the plants _but_ I want a later curfew, an hour later."  
  
"Just go water those flowers, baby", his mother said, smiling. "And it'll only be a half hour."  
  
  
  
Over the next few weeks, as Anthony discovered and resigned to not having any sort of green-thumb, Jermaine discovered his own.  
  
The flowers had bloomed considerably since he'd taken over that chore and the other plants  seemed to be adjusting too.  
  
"Are you watering them with holy water or something", Janine said one day, squinting at the flowers in disbelief.  
  
Jermaine shrugged. "I'm pretty sure it's just regular water, but what can I say? I have a talent."  
  
"You do", his sister immediately agreed, no hint of sarcasm in her voice. "This is incredible."  
  
  
  
The flowers weren't the only thing in bloom that month.  
  
Almost everywhere Jermaine went, something seemed to be growing.  
  
A small bean that was stuck in an unflattering manner in the window of his favorite pizza place sprouted in almost no time.  
  
Almost immediately after, Jermaine had tripped in the street basketball court on a seemingly invisible rope until one of his friends pointed out that a couple of flowers had grown out of the small crack on the court.  
  
By the time, their Syrian neighbor had asked his mother for help, Jermaine and his gardening skills became a legend in the neighborhood.  
  
The plants at their neighbor's balcony shriveled after being mostly healthy and only returned to an extraordinary green when Jermaine began taking care of them after his mother volunteered him.  
  
"Ya Allah", the neighbor had said in wonder at the plants' lush color. "You have a gift, my boy."  
  
Jermaine had thanked their neighbor for her compliment and proceeded to leave until she sweared he was going nowhere without trying some of her _knafeh_.  
  
  
  
When his green thumb turned _actually_ green, Jermaine decided a call to Omi was in order.  
  
  
"It's so weird, Omi", he said, staring at his thumb in shock. "It's super fucking green!"  
  
Omi's voice was crackling on the line. "How green is it?"  
  
"I just said it's super green, dude."  
  
"Yes, but what shade?"  
  
Jermaine rolled his eyes and barely stopped himself from hanging up.  
  
"I don't know, moss green?", he said, not bothering to hide the 'really' tone his voice was taking.  
  
"It's more serious than I thought", Omi said gravely.  
  
Jermaine was getting worried. "What do you mean? How serious?"  
  
Only the beeping ansewered him.  
  
"Omi? Are you there, dude?", he said before he threw his phone on the bed.  
  
"That boy has no tact", Jermaine said to the vacant room.

 

* * *

 

  
"Did anyone text you back about your little green problem?"  
  
Jermaine sighed and shuffled his fork in his rice.  
  
"No", he said. "And can you not call it that?"  
  
Janine nodded. "You're right, it'll expand soon enough and it won't be that little anymore."  
  
Maxine sighed but opted to not interfere.  
  
"You'll look like a martian", Janine added.  
  
Jermaine scoffed at her but agreed nonetheless.  
  
"You're probably right."  
  
"I bet it was that creepy old teacher of yours", Maxine said, frowning. "I can't believe I just let my child go out and about with that ~~\--~~ "

"Mom", Jermaine interrupted. "We were training, not having fun. And he didn't cast any spells on me."  
  
Maxine gave him a look. "Same difference, I still regret it any way."  
  
"You didn't know any better", Anthony said reassuringly. "But _I_ did and yet..."  
  
Jermaine sighed and was about to start on how it was his fault really for insisting he wanted to train with Chase but he was interrupted by a doorbell.  
  
"Did anyone invite someone over without telling us", Maxine said, massaging her forehand. " _Janine_?"  
  
Said girl looked offended. "I didn't invite anyone and that was one time!"  
  
Anthony gave his daughter a side-look as he got up and answered the door.  
  
Watching his father's face change from casual to confusion to a deep surprise told Jermaine it could only be one thing.  
  
  
  
  
When the Lees heard their doorbell, none of them certainly expected, of all things, recruiters from the Xiaolin temple.  
  
  
"So just to be clear", Maxine began. "No one at that temple is over a 1000 years old?"  
  
Kimiko smiled and looked discreetly at the dragon on her shoulder.  
  
"Dojo here is actually 1500 years old", she answered to the dragon's chagrin.  
  
Noticing Ms. Lee's increasingly cautious face, she added quickly.  
  
"But he's not due for evil until a thousand more years and I can assure you we'll all be likely dead. Or murdered, but most probably dead."  
  
Jermaine raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I don't want to be rude, Kimiko, but why did you say the temple sent _you_ specifically?"  
  
Dojo perked up. "Because of her excellent people skills."  
  
Maxine and Anthony shared a look as Janine just muttered a 'wow' and stared at the ceiling to avoid making retorts.  
  
Jermaine cleared his throat. "Shouldn't Master Fung have come, though?"  
  
"Master Fung assigned her this job actually", Dojo explained.  
  
Kimiko nodded. "He said after the last Xiaolin-Heylin encounter, your parents probably didn't want another old guy saying he wants to train you."  
  
Taking a sip from her drink, Maxine nodded.  
  
"He's right about that one", she said. "What did you say the, uh, position included?"  
  
Kimiko shrugged. "Regular Dragon training, just like the rest of us."  
  
"Hold up", Jermaine said, feeling a little apprehension. "I'm just a regular Wudai warrior with a weird thumb."  
  
"Well, here comes the good part", Dojo said, vibrating with excitement. "Yer a Dragon, Harry!"  
  
No one said anything until Janine coughed and broke the silence.  
  
"How long has he been holding on to that one?"  
  
Kimiko rolled her eyes. "The entire ride over here and he only read the first book yesterday."  
  
Jermaine was processing the news, making sure he controlled his breathing.  
  
"I'm, I can't", he said. "You've met me before ~~\--~~ I stayed at your temple for a _week_ , if I was a Dragon, you would've known!"  
  
The dragon shook his head. "Actually, we wouldn't have. You're a bit of a late bloomer ~~\--~~ nothing wrong with that, just late powers."  
  
"And what kind of Dragon am I?", Jermaine asked. "The flower dragon?"  
  
Kimiko tilted her head, considering it.  
  
 "While that's an impressive title, we were thinking you could go with Wood Dragon for now."  
  
  
  
A week later, after Jermaine got his visa and other paperwork processed in record time, he began to understand why Master Fung had Kimiko be the spokesperson.  
  
  
Even while on the way to the JFK, and later on in that plane to China, Jermaine couldn't believe this was really happening.  
  
He was on his way to the temple to train, not just as a warrior but as a _Dragon_.  
  
  
At the airport, his mother smiled and joked about the situation so she wouldn't cry, both proud and slightly afraid.  
  
His father played along, too, but it did nothing to hide the worry in his eyes.  
  
Only Janine was semi-normal with him, not bothering to hide anything she felt because they were too close for that.  
  
  
"Take care of yourself, Jay", she said, hugging him. "Take names, kick ass, show them what you're made of."  
  
Jermaine laughed. "That's a sure thing and you know it."

Janine laughed too but her face fell and soon enough she sniffed, trying to pull back her tears.  
  
"I'll miss you", she said, furiously wiping her eyes. " _God_ , this is embarrassing ~~\--~~ now I'm crying!"  
  
Jermaine went for another hug. "I'll miss you too, sis."

 

* * *

 

  
On his second, unnecessary tour of the temple, Jermaine wished that his Aunt Vivian and her spotlight-stealing tendencies were there.

  
The elderly masters, who only paid him minimal attention on his last visit, were now shamelessly staring.  
  
"What's their problem?", he asked Kimiko as she led him aimlessly to nowhere.  
  
Kimiko shrugged. "That's how they were when we first got here ~~\--~~ new arrivals and all."  
  
Self-consciously playing with his hair, Jermaine felt increasingly nervous.  
  
"Please tell me it stops soon."  
  
She smiled reassuringly. "It will, don't worry."  
  
Jermaine nodded as he followed her, wondering how was it that he agreed to go ob this second tour.

  
He'd arrived about two hours earlier at the temple and was met by Master Yang, who bowed to him and told another apprentice to lead him to the Dragons' room.  
  
Jermaine followed the apprentice, dragging his bags behind him.  
  
He felt more than a little excited and maybe slightly curious. After all, he had only passed by the monks' room last time he came.  
  
"The vacant section is yours", the apprentice told him redundantly before ducking out of the room.  
  
Jermaine let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as he took in the room and its sections.  
  
It was incredibly easy to tell which section belonged to whom.  
  
The section with the chest labelled ' _wigs_ ' and the video game shelf was Kimiko's and the one with the tiny action figures confused him until he saw the saddle and knew it must have been Clay's.  
  
With an eye-roll, Jermaine skipped the section with giant Brazilian flag plastered to the wall because that was an incredibly easy give-away and moved to the last furnished section of the room: Omi's.  
  
That section was neater than the others but it certainly had some clutter of its own: a few books lying here and there, the unmade sleeping mat, and a charred copy of the Ancient Guide to Females.  
  
What caught Jermaine's eye, though, were the polaroids plastered to the wall.  
  
There were photos of Omi with the other monks, Dojo, and Master Fung, sometimes separately and sometimes together, and occasionally there would be an elderly master or two involved.  
  
One photo wasn't like the others.  
  
It was the one taken right before Jermaine left for New York and they both looked tired and sweaty because of a sparring match they had just before, but in the photo they stood together, making faces at Dojo, who was taking the picture.  
  
Smiling as he walked over to his section of the room and started to unpack, Jermaine only had one thought.  
  
Now he could never hang his own copy of that photo without looking like a copycat.   
  
  
  
He headed to the training ground immediately after, planning to surpise Omi and the others.  
  
Unfortunately, they saw him before he saw them.  
  
Jermaine found himself in the middle of an impromptu welcome party.  
  
"Took you long enough, partner!"  
  
"Welcome to the team, dude!"  
  
"Jermaine, your thumb has gotten less green!"  
  
He felt the need to break the festivity.  
  
"Hold up, hold up", Jermaine said. "You knew I was here?"  
  
Kimiko, who had said nothing until then but a quick greeting, shrugged.  
  
"I might have hacked the airline to see when you were getting here."  
  
"Really?", he asked, impressed.  
  
"Yeah, _Omi_ wouldn't stop whining", she said. "Which is weird because he's always nagging me about how hacking is immoral."  
  
Jermaine smiled and raised an eyebrow at the aforementioned boy. "And where did that moral compass go?"  
  
"I wanted to check on my friend, that's all", Omi said, with the smallest hint of a blush. "I would have done that for any of you."  
  
As he saw the quick look Raimundo and Clay exchanged, Jermine had an inkling his statement was a little far from the truth.

"I'm so happy we ditched training for this", Raimundo said as Master Fung materialized behind him.  
  
Clay cleared his throat. "Right behind ya, partner."  
  
Jermaine held in a laugh as he saw how quickly Raimundo went through the five stages of grief.  
  
"Master Fung", he said, turning around with a smile. "Did I ever tell you how ~~\--~~ "  
  
Master Fung sighed. "Training, now. Extra hour for chores later."   
  
The Dragons gave various groans and headed behind their teacher, save for Kimiko, who stayed behind and yelled that she was taking Jermaine on a tour.  
  
"But I had the tour", he said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Just let me waste time in peace", she said, pleadingly. "And a lot of things happened since your last visit ~~\--~~ Master Huang finally went senile."  
  
  
  
At night, long after training, the new Dragon's arrival was met with a wild celebration.  
  
Well, as wild as a celebration can get when it's only five teenagers and their bluetooth speakers and assorted snacks at midnight.  
  
  
Raimundo raised a water bottle in a toast fashion.  
  
 "To Jermaine, the Wood Dragon, and to having less chores!"  
  
Jermaine smiled but couldn't help the sarcasm. "You're a brilliant public speaker, please go into politics."  
  
"I will", Raimundo said, downing the entire water bottle without bothering with the cheers.  
  
Clay laughed. "He's been rehearsing that speech since breakfast. There's more to come, by the way."  
  
"Yeah", Kimiko agreed, taking a sip of her own water bottle. "He's an emotional drunk."  
  
Jermaine raised an eyebrow. "That's alcohol?"  
  
"It's certainly not water", Omi said, taking a sip of a juice-box.  
  
"Aren't you _monks_?", Jermaine asked, curiously. "You're supposed to be the pinnacle of good behavior."  
  
Kimiko did a gesure he knew was supposed to resemble finger guns.

"Yeah, but we're _cool_ monks."

 

* * *

 

  
Jermaine soon found out it was hard work dividing his free time between his teammates.

  
  
It was always a blast when they hanged out together, telling jokes and all sorts of disturbing anecdotes, but when they each peeled away and asked him to join them is where the trouble started.

  
"I know the feeling", Omi said, nodding sagely after Jermaine told him his predicament. "I once divided myself into a couple of copies so I could understand their hobbies and hang out with them more."  
  
He paused and looked him the eye.   
  
"It is, as Kimiko would say, a bitch."  
  
Jermaine couldn't help the laugh that escaped him, all hysterical with a couple of snorts.  
  
"Omi, dude", he said, putting a hand on the other's shoulder. "You're the funniest person I've ever met."  
  
He didn't miss Omi staring at the dark hand on his shoulder like it was a mirage.  
  
By the time Jermaine removed his hand, the damage was already done.  
  
"I, I, uh", Omi said, uncharacteristically nervous. "I have to go...wash the, uh, Dojo."  
  
"Hey, hey, O", Jermaine said, calling after him. "Omi, I didn't want to..."  
  
Seeing the other boy all but running away, Jermaine shrugged and crossed his arms.  
  
"I'll deal with him later", he said to no one.  
  
  
  
Over the next month, Jermaine managed to find a healthy balance between his friends and his own alone time.  
  
  
Sundays were Kimiko days, when he resolved to hang out with the resident self-proclaimed mogul.  
  
In all honesty, Jermaine hadn't expected her to be half as fun as she turned out to be.  
  
When he and Kimiko hung out, they spent time playing poker, hacking into international satellites ~~\--~~ those secret service secrets Jermaine learned meant he will never be the same again ~~\--~~ , and talking, of all things, about conspiracy theories.  
  
"I know this might sound stupid", she said one day; sucking on a black licorice. "But I'm _positive_ this current Avril Lavigne is a clone."  
  
Jermaine didn't know what his face looked like. "That's a weird thing to be positive about, but continue."  
  
  
  
Mondays, in turn, became the days when he and Raimundo hanged out together, which the latter was extremely happy about.

Hanging out with the team leader, usurprisingly involved a lot of sports, shenanigans, and, though Jermaine couldn't believe it as it happened, dancing.  
  
He didn't know why the dancing surprised him after he discovered Raimundo regularly played chess with a mini-dinosaur, but it did.  
  
Jermaine wasn't averse to it, really, when he discovered they had similar tastes in music, but he couldn't understand ~~\--~~  
  
"Why can't we tell anyone about this?"  
  
Raimundo scoffed. "Duh, Clay has no rhythm, Omi's purposely a terrible dancer, and Kimiko gets...competitive."  
  
Jermaine snorted.  
  
That was an understatement if he had heard any.  
  
  
  
Tuesdays were when Jermaine hanged out with Clay, which he felt was honestly overdue.  
  
As the only other American in the group, Jermaine felt like he and Clay should be somehow close, and he knew they would be, when he managed to understand him.  
  
Clay fascinated him, if he was being honest.  
  
In between all the whittling and that one time they went horseback riding, the cowboy told a lot of stories.  
  
Although weird stories weren't a shortage at the temple ~~\--~~ what with Raimundo's vaguely suspicious stories about various family members and Kimiko's recounting what exactly happens in a socialite's life in Japan ~~\--~~ Clay's stories seemed to transcend time and Jermaine was positive it was that country twang's doing.  
  
  
  
Wednesdays were obviously his and Omi's time to hang out, which proved challenging after the shoulder incident.  
  
But after they both cooled down and got the whole 'avoiding eye-contact' phase over with, Jermaine discovered they had a lot in common, namely, photography.  
  
"I started after Dojo gave me his old polaroid camera", Omi explained. "And he first got it to fill up my baby photo albums, so in a way it came around full-circle."  
  
Jermaine nodded. "That's cool, I started taking photos after my Aunt Reggie bought me a camera for my tenth birthday. She said I had a great eye."  
  
"You have an aunt named Reggie?", Omi asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Jermaine smiled. "Yeah and an aunt Vivian, we call her Viv sometimes ~~\--~~ and Uncle Jack and Uncle Carter."  
  
"Isn't Carter a last name?"  
  
"Mostly, but my grandma liked it too much."  
  
As they continued talking about his family, Jermaine couldn't help but notice that Omi was genuinely interested but a little sad all the same.  
  
"I'm sorry", he said, making sure to look Omi in the eyes. "Probably shouldn't spend that much talking about myself."  
  
He opted not to say the word ' _family_ ', not knowing what the other boy would say about that.  
  
Omi clearly understood, though. "Don't be, I...learned that friends can be as much family as blood relatives can be."  
  
He avoided looking at Jermaine as he said the next part.  
  
"I think of you as family too, you know."  
  
When Jermaine said nothing, Omi started backtracking.

"I'm sorry if I over-shared, it's just ~~\--~~ "  
  
Jermaine interrupted. "No, no, it's okay ~~\--~~ you are one of my closest friends and, and you're family too."  
  
He laughed nervously. "I never said that out loud."  
  
Omi laughed too but said nothing as both boys realized that in the secrecy their sharing had imposed, they'd leaned closer together.  
  
Close enough to whisper, Jermaine thought. Close enough to kiss.  
  
"What are you two doing?"  
  
They both turned to see the dragon with the overzealous smile on his face.  
  
"Nothing", Jermaine said at the same time Omi said, "photography."  
  
Dojo's grin grew bigger. "That must be one nerve-wracking hobby if it got you two so flushed."  
  
"I don't blush", Jermaine automatically defended.  
  
"Never said you were", Dojo said, eyeing the suspiciously silent Omi.  
  
The dragon made an 'I'm watching you' gesture and flied away, whistling an innocent tune.  
  
Jermaine sighed and exchanged a nervous look with Omi.  
  
Training was going to be rough next morning unless they figured out how to bribe that gossip of a dragon into silence.

 

* * *

  
  
In the next couple of weeks, after Jermaine decided to bury that...whatever it was behind him, he was surprised to discover that he really didn't.

 

So he found Omi more and more intriguing everyday, how different was that than finding any of the others interesting? 

  
Deep down, Jermaine knew that the way he found Clay's farm stories and Raimundo's unfinished story about how he owed his Aunt Jorja a kid named after her interesting was very different from the way he found Omi intriguing.  
  
He would find himself wondering sometimes if Omi's hand would feel different if he held it when his intention wasn't to judo-flip him.  
  
Or if Omi was always that funny? Or if he had somehow grown taller overnight?  
  
  
  
The one and only time he'd gone shopping with Kimiko, Jermaine knew that this crush was getting out of hand.

  
When he first arrived at the temple, Jermaine discovered that, among other traditions, Kimiko had one of her own; the monthly shopping trip.  
  
The shopping trips were a way to tell who was that month's fashion victim because Kimiko took it upon herself to update said victim's closet.  
  
It went unsaid that Omi, with his extremely limited wardrobe, was part of those trips whether he wanted to or not.  
  
Jermaine had been proud he was _never_ on those trips until the day he was.  
  
"Omi and I are going shopping on Friday", Kimiko said, twirling her chopsticks aimlessly.  
  
She paused, avoiding looking at anyone else at the table for dramatic purposes.  
  
"Jermaine, would you like to come?"  
  
The question, though innocently posed, was code for 'you're it'.  
  
Clay and Raimundo high-fived. "Yeah, partner, my hat is safe!"   
  
"Hold up", Jermaine said, insulted. "My clothes suddenly suck, but Cargo Pants over here is fine?"  
  
Raimundo glared at him. "Don't insult my pants!"  
  
"I will do what I damn well please until you explain why do you have that many pockets?!"  
  
"Why don't you?!"  
  
Kimiko sighed. "You know I made him keep only one of those hideous pants, Jay."  
  
"I still don't see why I should go", Jermaine said.  
  
Kimiko looked him up and down and smiled.  
  
"New jeans."   
  
Jermaine couldn't argue with her ~~\--~~ the state the showdowns left his jeans in _was_ abominable.  
  
  
  
At the mall that Friday, Jermaine ran at least five pairs of jeans by Kimiko before she agreed on two of them.  
  
"Oh look", he said sarcastically after paying. "Her Highness finally approves!"  
  
Kimiko rolled her eyes and motioned him to wait next to her as Omi tried the clothes she picked out.  
  
"You're lucky you were done in thirty minutes", she said. "We're starting on Omi now and I didn't even do as much as _peruse_."  
  
  
An hour later, Omi had an array of approved shirts and pants, but as always, he still had one more thing to try.  
  
Jermaine huffed. "And then we can go get lunch?"  
  
"Sure", Kimiko nodded. "It's just one last thing."  
  
Omi's voice broke through suddenly.  
  
"How does it look?"  
  
Jermaine and Kimiko both looked up at the boy in front of them.  
  
Apparently that one last thing Omi had to try was a beanie.  
  
Reading his thoughts, Kimiko whispered. "I almost forgot he's self-conscious about headwear."  
  
Jermaine nodded, not really hearing anything.  
  
It was over the top, he knew, but somehow that beanie was magic.  
  
"Is anyone going to answer me?", Omi said. "You're not being politely silent because my head looks big? Kimiko, answer me, you're never polite!"  
  
As tactless as Omi was, he managed to jolt Jermaine back to reality.  
  
"No, no, you look", Jermaine began, suddenly realizing how cliché he was being. "Cool, cool-ish ~~\--~~ it doesn't go with anything you got, honestly."  
  
Omi smiled, never the one to be discouraged.  
  
"But it looks good and I will get it!"  
  
Kimiko laughed along and dragged Omi and his new beanie to the cashier while Jermaine lagged on.  
  
It was then that he knew he really needed advice.  
  
  
  
The only problem with asking for relationship advice in that temple was figuring out who to talk to.  
  
Clay was a solid choice, but Jermaine knew he would somehow insert French in because that had been his thing for a couple of days.

Kimiko would have been great to talk to but Jermaine was wary about that since he discovered she had a podcast.  
  
Dojo, a notorious Xiaolin gossip, was already eliminated.  
  
  
  
Jermaine decided to talk to Raimundo during their game later that day.

  
He'd joined him in soccer out of politeness at first, but soon enough Jermaine started actually enjoying it.  
  
Raimundo didn't shy from the reason he invited the latest team member for the games.  
  
"O's cool, but I feel like I'm a coach all the time", he'd said. "And Clay sucks. He calls it _soccer_."  
  
Oddly enough, Raimundo mentioned nothing about Kimiko, which Jermaine didn't really need.  
  
He saw their last and final game and he knew first-hand how the playful trash talk turned into _real_ trash talk that almost turned into a fight before he stepped in.  
  
"I'm going to come back when you stop fighting", Jermaine had said only to receive surprised looks.  
  
"Why would you think we're fighting?", Raimundo asked.  
  
Kimiko nodded. "Yeah, we're best friends."  
  
  
  
Jermaine shrugged off the memory and tried not to go through mental gymnastics to figure out whether the probably romantic tension those two had was unresolved or not, even with the incriminating conversations he was positive he heard.  
  
He wore his soccer shoes and headed to the field where his friend already was.  
  
Raimundo passed the ball. "You're late."  
  
"Yeah, I couldn't find my shoes", Jermaine said, trying not to appear distracted as he kicked the ball.   
  
The other boy easily snatched it from him.  
  
"Not your best", Raimundo said, pausing the game and sitting on the football. "What's wrong?"  
  
Jermaine shook his head at first but quickly sighed; there wasn't any point in delaying that conversation.  
  
"Can we date?"  
  
Raimundo raised an eyebrow. "Very forward, dude, but I do admire the courage."  
  
"No, not like you and me", Jermaine said, scowling. "Like, are we as monks allowed to date?"  
  
Raimundo shrugged. "If we weren't then a lot of temple rules are being broken right now."  
  
"How about each other?", Jermaine asked, getting to the point now. "Can we as Xiaolin Dragons date each other?"  
  
Raimundo's expression was unchanged. "Like I said, lots of broken rules."  
  
Jermaine scoffed and prepared to walk away.  
  
"Go for it, by the way", Jermaine heard the other boy say when his back was turned.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Ask Omi out."  
  
Raimundo shrugged to himself and added, while completely ignoring Jermaine's face.  
  
"I mean, he asked me for advice just before you did, so I'm guessing he's planning on something ~~\--~~ I don't know, try to to beat him to it, I have a couple of lines you can borrow ~~\--~~ "  
  
Jermaine cut him off. "How do you know we even like each other?"  
  
"Seriously?", Raimundo said, smile overtaking his face. "You're making it too easy, I swear. You lost your first showdown, right?"  
  
Jermaine bit his lower lip. "Thank you for rubbing it in."  
  
"Anytime", Raimundo said, not missing a beat. "Anyway, you remember what Omi said to you after?"  
  
 "His exact words were 'even I lose sometimes'"  
  
"Exactly! Don't get me wrong, Omi got way more humble after we joined the temple, but not verbally beating you up after a lost showdown is..."  
  
Raimundo trailed off before he found his point.  
  
"Either he really likes you", he said. "Or Spicer is trying out a new robotic doppelganger."  
  
Jermaine nodded, taking in the information.  
  
"And how did you know I like him?"  
  
Raimundo snorted. "Even easier, your face looks exactly like mine when I look at Kim ~~\--~~ "

He shut up immediately and coughed up a storm to hide the last word.  
  
"Look at who?", Jermaine prompted.  
  
"I can't say."  
  
"Why do all your stories end like this?"

 

* * *

 

  
  
They were having lunch one day when it happened.  
  
The conversation had interestingly slipped from Clay's weird Uncle Otis to Kimiko's podcast.  
  
"So your podcast is called Explicit?", Jermaine asked, intrigued. "What's it about?"  
  
Kimiko shrugged. "Oh you know, everything that happens in the temple."  
  
"That's...worrying", Jermaine said.

"Relax", she said. "My most serious topic was Master Huang and Master Lin trying to one-up each other by bragging about their nephews."  
  
Clay looked interested. "How did that end, by the way? They were fighting like a couple of canis lupus familiaris."  
  
"Okay, what?", Jermaine asked, not seeing that one coming.  
  
Raimundo sighed. "It's a roundabout way to say dogs."  
  
"Yes, but why?", Jermaine asked.  
  
Clay rolled his eyes. "Cowboys are allowed interests, y'know."  
  
"Anyway", Omi said, dragging out the word. "Who won, Kimiko?"  
  
Kimiko looked proud. "Master Huang, which means you all are going to do my chores for the next month!"  
  
The boys grumbled and Jermaine couldn't help but smirk.  
  
"Longstanding bet, huh?"  
  
"Literally a year before you came in", Kimiko explained. "The fist fight part only happened last night."  
  
Remembering what they were talking about, Jermaine scrunched his nose.  
  
"Why do you call it Explicit, though?"  
  
Kimiko gave a pleased sigh. "I live for the irony."  
  
"I suggested Keeping Up With Kimiko", Clay said, shrugging.  
  
Raimundo threw a dumpling in his mouth.  
  
"And I suggested the Real Dragons of the Xiaolin Temple."  
  
Jermaine instinctively turned to Omi, who gave a defeated sigh.  
  
"I just don't like reality television."  
  
The conversation was beginning to circle back around Clay's Uncle Otis before Omi suddenly stood up.  
  
"I have something to say", he began. "Jermaine."  
  
Said boy looked at Omi, who was getting paler by the second. "Yeah?"  
  
"Don’t be alarmed if a fat man puts you in a bag", he began, taking a discreet look at Raimundo, who was giving him a thumbs-up.  
  
Clay scratched his ear. "Actually, I think he should be very alarmed."  
  
Omi glared at him. "As I told Santa I wanted you for Christmas."  
  
"Oh my God, I can't believe my eyes", Kimiko said, automatically taking out her phone and beginning to record.  
  
Jermaine couldn't either, but he was too sucker-punched to say anything.  
  
"Also", Omi said. "Are you religious? Because you're the answer to all my prayers."  
  
Clay spat out the water he'd been drinking and Kimiko put a hand on her mouth.  
  
Jermaine opened and closed his mouth several times before finding an answer.  
  
"Omi, are you trying to...pick me up?"  
  
The other boy put his hands on his waist confidently. "Is it working?"  
  
Jermaine got up and proceeded to drag Omi outside before stopping to glare at the team leader.  
  
"We're having a talk about this later, Rai."  
  
  
  
Outside the kitchen, Jermaine found the right words.  
  
"What the hell?", was the first of them.  
  
Omi avoided his eyes. "Were they at least romantic?"  
  
"They were", Jermaine said. "But if you wanted to ask me out, why not just do that?"  
  
"That's too easy."  
  
"It doesn't have to be hard all the time, you know."  
  
"Okay, will you go out with me?"  
  
Jermaine smirked. "I'll think about it."  
  
"You'll what?", Omi asked, shocked.  
  
"I'm kidding", Jermaine explained. "Of course I'll go out with you, water boy."  
  
  
  
  
His first date with Omi was naturally pretty weird.  
  
Maybe it had to do with the fact that they had a dragon chaperone, something Jermaine made sure to tell his sister about.  
  
But it was probably the fact they were in Hong Kong, not moving anywhere because they somehow walked into a movie action scene being shot.  
  
Dojo especially was intrigued. "I had no idea movie magic takes that much time!"  
  
"What magic?", Omi said, disgusted. "This is a horrible fight choreography."  
  
Jermaine agreed. "I had school friends who literally can do better in their sleep ~~\--~~ this the Last Airbender movie all over again."  
  
"What's that?", Omi asked.  
  
Jermaine's eyes widened. "You've never seen that show? Okay, we're marathoning it tomorrow."  
  
Omi opened his mouth to add something but Dojo loudly shushed him, so instead he simply gestured Jermaine to follow him.  
  
"What's up?", Jermaine said as they slinked away in the crowd. "Not that I mind, that scene is terrible."  
  
Omi nodded. "I know. Do you want to get out of here?"  
  
"Sure", Jermaine said without a second thought. "Dojo's our ride, though."

Omi smirked as he took the Golden Tiger Claws out of his hoodie's pocket.  
  
"Not anymore", he said.  
  
Jermaine smiled. "Omi gone wild, huh? I like this side of you."  
  
"So do I", Omi agreed. "There's a place I want to show you."  
  
  
  
The portal took them to a secret garden behind an abandoned building.  
  
Jermaine looked around him, curiously.  
  
The garden was beautiful and so was the atmosphere around it.  
  
He felt more alive somehow and suddenly he could tell just how many trees were in the garden and how much of the berries around them were poisonous.  
  
"This place is amazing", he said finally.  
  
Omi bit his lip. "I enjoy being here, it's one of my favorite places."  
  
Jermaine was surprised. "Really?"  
  
"Yes", Omi said, nodding. "That building was a school actually, the one I used to go to."  
  
"You went to a school outside of the temple?"  
  
"Yes, Master Fung wanted me to meet children my age and I did for about a year."  
  
Jermaine was intrigued. "Why did you stop?"  
  
"Children can be cruel", Omi explained. "Especially to other children who are strange or orphans."  
  
He smiled tensely. "I happened to be both."  
  
"Hey, at least it's all behind you now", Jermaine said, patting the other boy on the back. "You're a Dragon in training and those kids are probably just the way they were."  
  
He paused. "Boy, do I have some bullying stories for you!"  
  
Jermaine and Omi spent the rest of their time talking, at first about bullies and weird school anecdotes, then about Jermaine's sister, and then, by virtue of their positions, about fighting styles.  
  
"Just saying", Jermaine said, defending his point. "In a fight where anything's fair, Master Monk Guan would probably kick Chase Young's ass."  
  
Omi seemed insulted. "But Chase Young ~~\--~~ "  
  
"Is an immortal were-lizard because he drank special soup", Jermaine said. "But do you know why the hell Guan is still around?"  
  
Omi mulled it over. "I don't like it, but I suppose you're right."  
  
"Who's turn is it?", Jermaine asked, feeling like they lost touch with their question game. "We went on a _long_ tangent there."  
  
"I think it's your turn", Omi said.  
  
Jermaine bit his lip and took notice that they were sitting in the exact same way they were that day when they were talking about photography.  
  
He wasn't going to miss his chance now.  
  
After making sure no pesky dragons were around, Jermaine turned to Omi.  
  
"Here's a really good question", he said. "Can I kiss you?"  
  
Omi tensed. "Technically that's a request, but you can."  
  
  
The kiss lasted for ten seconds and was immediately followed by two more, each after the other.  
  
"Just a heads up", Jermaine said, tone jittery. "We're making Kimiko swear not to put this on her podcast."  
  
Omi nodded. "Goes without saying."

 

* * *

 

  
Home was an overused word at their temple.

  
Clay used it a lot and sometimes replaced it with the word 'ranch' or 'Texas'.  
  
Kimiko used it to refer to her place back in Tokyo and her grandmother's house and her father's company, all places where she grew up.  
  
Raimundo used it to refer to his house back in Rio and his hometown in Tubarão and all of his siblings' apartments.  
  
Omi, so far, had only used it to refer to the temple and soon enough the others joined him.  
  
They'd come back from missions or family visits or just regular hanging out in the town and they'd all chime, "we're home!"  
  
  
  
Jermaine found it really hard to join in that chorus.  
  
He knew the others heard it when he would mess up their symphony by saying 'we're back!" instead.  
  
In his mind, home was still New York, where his favorite basketball street court was and where he had more than thirty viable pizza options.  
  
Home was Janine singing out loud and not caring she was basically tone-deaf. Home was Mom and Dad yelling at Janine to keep it down. Home was when they all joined in that terrible karaoke.  
  
  
The temple was nice too and he loved it.  
  
But even Kimiko's conspiracy theories and Raimundo's pranks and Clay's Texasims only helped in making it feel like the home of a relative.

Jermaine loved staying at his relatives' homes, of course, he tended to love going back home.  
  
He shared his fears with the others, but slowly discovered this was an issue he had to resolve alone.  
  
Kimiko had sighed and told him she understood and that homesickness made her want to scream almost always that entire first year.  
  
Clay understood too and told him that this could be remedied by continous visits to home.  
  
Raimundo only shrugged.  
  
"I know, it sucks, but you're stuck with these nerds now", he said, affectionately. "Give it time."  
  
  
  
Jermaine knew Raimundo meant well and that that sentence was said in good faith, but it didn't escape him that the other boy thought he was talking about not belonging.  
  
He told Omi everything the night they were supposed to be out getting groceries.  
  
"He's right", Omi said. "At first you'll feel like maybe your teammates are lazy, ignorant, and have no proper work ethic."  
  
"And?", Jermaine prompted.  
  
"That's it, I'm done."  
  
"Really, Omi?"  
  
He took a deep breath.  
  
 "Dude, I was saying that Rai clearly thought I was feeling like I didn't belong but all I said was that I felt like this temple isn't my home."  
  
Omi's eyes scanned his face.  
  
"You don't think those two are connected?"

 

* * *

 

  
Jermaine learned the real feeling of belonging soon after, when he returned from his quest to get his Wudai weapon.

  
He was naturally surprised when he spent the entire quest thinking about his team and temple.  
  
It began with a simple thought, when he remembered Kimiko was going shopping today, alone for the first time in months.  
  
But that thought led him to think about the others and how they would spend their day.  
  
Would Clay drag the others into another game with his action figures? Would Omi somehow get the others to practice their ever-wobbly Lotus Strikes? Would Raimundo manage to make that hilarious novela marathon happen?  
  
All those thoughts led him, eventually, to hunger and appreciating that even the temple's resident white boy came from a state where the food was anything but bland.  
  
  
  
  
When Jermaine came back that night, he flopped on the vacant chair in the kitchen and set his Wudai weapon on the table.  
  
"I'm home", he said automatically. "And all I got was this stupid peach."  
  
The others stared at him, frozen with a sort of odd glee.  
  
When the rest of his sentence caught up to him, so did the Dragons.  
  
"Yeah, I wouldn't trade you", Raimundo said, failing to hold back a smile.  
  
Kimiko laughed. "It's so lame."  
  
"We grew better peaches at the ranch and we've got a _cattle_ ranch", Clay said, smirking.  
  
"Fellow Dragons", Omi interjected. "We should treat this weapon with respect even if lacks the excellence of my Kaijin Charm."  
  
The others laughed and Jermaine did too, though he added a false glare.  
  
"Well, aren't you the world's best boyfriend?"  
  
Omi crossed his arms, but his expression remained playful.  
  
Clay cleared his throat and patted Jermaine on the shoulder.  
  
"Welcome home, partner."

**Author's Note:**

> \- This got very long but I'm not apologizing because Jermaine deserves the world and there aren't a lot of stories about him
> 
> \- Why aren't there more stories about Jermaine and his ex-teacher Chase? 
> 
> -Omi not getting slang...rubs me the wrong way (a lot of reasons seriously) 
> 
> -I think Ping Pong had a peach in Chronicles? So that's why I used it but I'm not really sure if it was a peach tbh


End file.
